2025/08/25 by Binder, Hannah Beks, Füller +1 · 1 voice
Health Professions · Medicine · #Dental Education, Practice, Research #Global Health Workforce Issues #Medical Education and Admissions
paper · pdf · doi:10.22605/rrh9535
openalex publication_date 2025/08/25 · openalex created_date 2025/08/26 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/26
INTRODUCTION: Rural Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships (LICs) have been shown to produce graduate doctors who are more likely to work rurally than those from other clinical training pathways. The student selection and admission process to rural LICs is a relatively unexplored area. To address this knowledge gap, rural LIC graduates' perceptions on participating in the program and the medical students most suited to an LIC were explored. Enhanced understanding of selection and admission processes could provide procedures to optimise student success and wellbeing in rural training environments. Additionally, it could ensure student selection aligns with the program goal and help build targeted strategies to select and train medical students for rural practice. METHODS: An exploratory qualitative study was undertaken. Participants were graduates of the Doctor of Medicine at Deakin University, Australia, who participated in the rural LIC and graduated between 2011 and 2020. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were undertaken, and reflexive thematic analysis was employed. RESULTS: A sample of 39 graduates participated. Two main themes were identified: selecting and selection. The 'why' (selecting) referred to perceptions on clinical school preferencing decisions, with associated subthemes of being at the centre, aspiration, size matters and being disrupted. The 'who' (selection) referred to the type of student most suited to thrive in the clerkship, with associated subthemes of adaptive learner, relationship builders, harnessing life experiences and familiarity with rurality. CONCLUSION: The linking of the 'why' and 'who' has the capacity to ensure that the most suitable students are selecting and selected to undertake a rural LIC. This has benefits for students' personal learning, but also for medical schools with an interest in building effective training models that integrate selection policies with intended outcomes of the program, which often include to graduate doctors who work rurally.